Phillip Phillips Surgery is Reportedly Set for Tuesday

According to TMZ, American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips is forgoing his New York City victory tour to go under the knife on Tuesday:

“American Idol” winner Phillip Phillips will get badly-needed surgery for a bum kidney on Tuesday, and he’ll be recuperating in style in a swanky Malibu mansion … TMZ has learned.

As we first reported, Phillip endured immense pain during the entire competition … the result of a congenital kidney stone problem that has already resulted in 8 surgeries. He’s been living with kidney stones that are so big they can’t pass through his system.

Doctors inserted a stent into Phillip’s kidney 7 weeks ago, as a temporary fix, but the pain borders on unbearable. In fact, when Phillip went home to Georgia a week ago, his doctor urged him to throw in the towel and get the surgery immediately, but Phillip said no.

So we’ve learned the surgery will take place Tuesday afternoon.

The sooner he gets the surgery, the faster the Idol machine can get him back to work. Of course, it will also end the discomfort he has been in for months. Also, if he gets the surgery this week he should be healed up in time for the start of the Idol tour in July.

ETA: Jessica Sanchez and Joshua Ledet are both headed for New York City this week, They are scheduled to appear on Live with Kelly on Tuesday and Wednesday. Also Jessica Sanchez will perform in the Today Show studios on May 31 (Phillip was originally scheduled with Jessica).

Founder and editor of mjsbigblog.com, home of the awesomest fan community on the net. I love cheesy singing shows of all kinds, whether reality or scripted.I adore American Idol, but also love The Voice, Glee, X Factor and more!

I wish him the best — a complication free procedure and a speedy recovery, too. How painful that must be!

OffLeash

Having had a kidney stone and a stent myself, I can relate. Actually, I can’t because mine was small enough to pass with a stent and lithotripsy and I only had to wait 10 days. Phil’s pain must have been unbearable. And for at least 7 weeks? Yikes!

I wish Phil the best, and speedy recovery!

getaway1

I agree, get the surgery over with and get better. I know that fans were bummed that he will miss the NY talk show circuit next week, but there will be plenty of opportunities for that later on. I’d much rather see Phillip out of pain, be healthy and have a successful tour, especially now that he is the headliner.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_S3ZGXZCUE2YYOS7QV6QSTKM4SA buffynut2001

So I wonder if Joshua will do the NYC publicity with Jessica? Or is the NYC publicity just cancelled?

http://twitter.com/MissGolightly22 No Thanks

Most likely Jessica will make the rounds she has scheduled. But it would be nice if Joshua could get some attention too. He hasn’t had his official press tour yet, has he?

I think it’s a wise move to have the surgery now rather than put it off and continue to be in discomfort. I hope all goes well for Phillip and I wish him a speedy recovery.

http://twitter.com/MissGolightly22 No Thanks

Oh, and get well soon Phillip.

Karen C

I agree he should get the surgery as soon as he can. I could see him not wanting to give up on idol because it really is a one in a million chance. Better to do it now and get better for the tour. I hope his surgery goes well.

Anonymous

Most likely Jessica will make the rounds she has scheduled. But it
would be nice if Joshua could get some attention too. He hasn’t had his
official press tour yet, has he?

Jessica and Joshua are both headed for New York, They are scheduled to appear on Live with Kelly on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Anonymous

Get well Phillip!

I wonder if Phillip, Jessica, and maybe Joshua as well will prerecord their appearance on the Today show. If not, I hope Jessica and Joshua sing together on the show.

Anonymous

what about it?

Anonymous

Hopefully the operation will go smoothly and there won’t be any complications. I thought his dad said there was a six week recovery period, though — so wouldn’t he still miss the beginning of the tour? when is the first tour date?

Get well soon, Philip!

http://twitter.com/doesmonaknow DoesMonaKnow

The Today show website already has just Jessica listed for a studio performance on Thursday but no outdoor concert. I wonder if that was the plan all along or if they moved the performance indoors once Phillip had to cancel.

Anonymous

I’m a former RN and worked on a surgical floor for ten yrs.

The surgery is a major one, of course. I don’t think he’ll need the entire six weeks to recover. He is a young man and should rebound rather quickly. In fact, he’ll be feeling so much better (except for surgical incision) because the pain caused by the stones will be gone.

http://twitter.com/MissGolightly22 No Thanks

Usually the Idols are an outdoor performance. But I don’t know if they moved it because P2 had to cancel. If they didn’t get enough audience interest, then maybe they just decided to move it inside.

Like when One Direction was scheduled, it was supposed to be inside the studio. But they got deluged with audience requests, so they moved it to outside and did the full production.

Anonymous

There’s supposed to be a Today show concert with the Top 2, I guess it’s canceled, right?

http://profile.yahoo.com/VAVE4ELKQELWGDYINVNLPZVFEA Katrina

Hope all goes well with Phillip’s surgery and recovery. I’m sorry that he’ll have to miss the NY talk shows, but his health comes first and it’s good that he’s decided to go ahead with the surgery sooner.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_I3NQHPT3NA6VGKK22RCMTGOCII Tiffany

The kidney stone pain threw my husband onto the floor and he was unable to get up unassisted. This happened more then once and he also needed surgery to remove them because they fused together to form an L. Even more painful is when it obstructs the flow and causes the kidney to swell like a balloon. Phil is awfully young to already have had this many stones. I hope this ends it for him

http://twitter.com/doesmonaknow DoesMonaKnow

Yes, since the Idols are usually outdoors I wondered why they would have Phillip and Jessica indoors. I thought maybe because of The Voice, but then it was on last year and that didn’t stop Scotty/Lauren from having the typical outdoor concert. I know the ratings for Idol have been down but still I think there would have been enough interest in a Phillip/Jessica concert to warrant it being in the Plaza like all the other concerts. The next day there’s The Band Perry, maybe they didn’t want to have two outdoor concerts two days in a row? I don’t know.

clearone

I had a feeling that the surgery would be next week when he said he wasn’t going to NYC. I am so glad that he is finally going to be pain free. I don’t think any of us can imagine what he has been through. Sounds like AI is taking good care of their new star.

I’m just sorry he’s going to miss those appearances next week. Hopefully Home is going to be released to radio so that will keep his name out there and he can do the NYC appearances when the tour hits there.

I’m glad to see that Joshua is going to get some attention. He was not my favourite but he is a very talented young man who deserves his shot as well.

Anonymous

Wishing Phillip the best. Kidney stone pain is one of the most excruciating that you can have(witnessed many cases in ER days) Glad he is getting this done now!! There are many ways they can do this. Treatments are state of the art now. Being completely healed by Tour is great for the Idol tour and Phillip can promote his music later.

Thinking it’s great that Joshua will get to make the rounds with Jessica. Third place deserves some media that others get and because of Finale practice, he missed his Media circuit.

http://twitter.com/MissGolightly22 No Thanks

It’s possible they didn’t want to do two outdoor concerts in a row. I’m sure it’s a big hassle for the NYPD to keep large crowds like that under control. And it probably costs the show more money to put on.

Pixie Baker

My hope is that immediately after the surgery he is so relieved b/c he feels so much better…that is my hope….good luck, Phillip…..!

Anonymous

Phil is doing great on Itunes, he has his album assured, he is fine.

I am happy for Josh. The publicity will benefit him and he seems like a good guy. 3rd usually gets screwed. Hope he and Jess get some Itunes success out of this.

OffLeash

Yes, it’s great for Joshua because third placers usually get shafted. As for Phil missing the shows, maybe he’ll get to do them in 3 or 4 weeks, or even earlier. If so, it would be a great opportunity to have him back in the news. It might help revive interest in the season, the winner and the tour.

fuzzywuzzy

Good luck on your surgery, P2. Get well soon!

Anonymous

I stopped minimizing the pain of kidney stones for people, when I read a blogger last week whose best friend committed suicide because of the continuing pain. Phillip getting through this is truly remarkable. No matter what anyone says about his voice, he is his own profile in courage and an example to all of us.

I had one kidney stone years ago while I was pregnant. I was in the hospital due to the pain but they couldn’t give me anything for the pain because I was pregnant. They just put me on IV’s to hydrate me while we all waited for it to pass. It was the worse pain I’ve ever had in my life—and here poor Phillip has been performing with that pain, with multiple stones, and stones too big to pass the conventional way. I am so impressed with this kid, I can’t even put it into words–how strong he must be to have made it through—WOW! Oh, and I love his music as well, he was the one I voted for (along with Joshua and Elise!)

chessguy99

I’m think that Idol will be more aware of contestant health issues from now on. The Phillip kidney stones have caused all types of PR problems for Idol. It calls into question whether the show used the condition for buzz and/or to create sympathy for Phillip. Despite continual downplaying of the condition by Phillip and his girlfriend on twitter, the show and its surrogates in the media, seemed to constantly keep it high in the public’s mind.

I wish Phillip well, but I see this season as tainted by the show’s use of his condition. It calls into question if there needs to be more than cosmetic changes and that they have to get rid of some of the top decision makers on the show. Its obvious they are struggling with the show’s declining ratings, and have made some questionable decisions to stay on top.

OffLeash

The ratings have been declining steadily since season 6. Idol is just an old show. Maybe if they change all the judges and replace the old producers with younger ones next year they could slow down the ratings loss for next season. But they won’t go up.
OId show, talent show fatigue and talent show saturation with XFUS and The Voice competition will never see Idol back to its glory days.

Phillip says he hasn’t yet scheduled the surgery, but he expects to be 100% by the time the American Idols Live tour kicks off July 7 at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena. A spokeperson for the tour also said that Phillips is not expected to miss any tour dates.
“I’m not going to be missing anything,” Phillip says.

Anonymous

I think, America got it right, in choosing Phillip as the AI. His performances were the ones I most looked forward too, and accept for a couple of not so good ones (just as every other contestant had) his stamina, to perform, despite being in pain makes me think, when he’s completely well, we’ll see Phillip’s performances get even better, though they’re already great. Love the song ‘home’.

Get well soon, Phillip.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AdorablyHooked Gwen

Looking at his pictures from his audition until now, you can tell he’s very ill. Hope his recovery time is as easy and quick and painless as possible.

Josh also tweeted that he’s headed to Orlando.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WIHKL34XDORTS2UZP4SWUUTG3U randi

wishing P2 a speedy recovery!

http://twitter.com/shelbybb Shelby

I love how quickly we call things OLD in this country! I love the fact that we’ve enjoyed a show from one generation to another.
That’s bad – why?

chili1000

I’m glad that he is having the surgery as soon as possible. His health and having as much time as possible to recover before the tour should take precedence over the media blitz.

Larc

Even if Phillip doesn’t need a full six weeks for recovery, his tour performances could be affected at first. While he may not actually miss any of the tour, he will probably miss at least some of the rehearsal time. I think the Idols usually rehearse for a couple of weeks before the tour starts. But on the other hand, with his basic vanilla performances, he may not be doing anything he needs to rehearse.

OffLeash

I have enjoyed it too for 11 years lol. But most people get tired of the same show faster. On the other hand, it’s probably the only show I kept watching since its first season, so I can’t blame them lol.

http://twitter.com/jepriy Jepoy Ramos

glad he’s doing it early. the promo’s can wait. he needs to recover from this as soon as possible as the Tour will really suffer if he’s not in it.

http://twitter.com/jepriy Jepoy Ramos

Also, I wonder who’s paying for the surgery and the recovery mansion in Malibu?

Anonymous

I think it’s a smart move to have surgery now instead of later. Hopefully, he will be fully recovered in time for the tour and won’t miss any shows.

http://twitter.com/CanadianLady2 CanadianLady

I saw it mentioned three or four times – once near the beginning of the show when I think Ryan mentioned it, and then again when Ryan just asked about how he was doing, when his mom asked for prayer on her facebook page, and when after he went home when his doctor there urged him to get the surgery soon. Not sure how any of that was the show using it for ratings. And all Phillip and Hannah did was downplay it so that it didn’t become the focus.

OffLeash

I wondered that too. I’d be surprised if his family’s small town pawn shop could afford this kind of surgery. As for the mansion, TPTB probably have an extra one they barely use that they can spare for a few days. ;)

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QPQ3BY4QAQ2WBIG3EP4JBX2LHY SamC

his gf tweeted nothing has been scheduled a half hour ago and she has been with her the passed couple of days

clearone

I think they have been trying to downplay his condition all along so as to not create more drama. That said, I’m not surprised that she didn’t confirm the surgery. Lord knows fans would start showing up at the hospital and that is the last thing Phillip needs right now. I think her tweet is an attempt to divert attention to give him more privacy. I know it’s a sad day to believe what TMZ says but they are remarkably accurate no matter how douchey they are.

chessguy99

Jimmy seemed to mention it every other week. Also, TMZ had various stories on it. If you look up this season of Idol on TMZ, 90% of it is Phillip and his condition. If you don’t think that didn’t have an eefct on things. Everytime TMZ did something on Phillip and his condition, Phillip and Hannah got bombarded with twitter inquiries. Most of the downplaying they did was because of the tweets generated by TMZ articles.

Looking at Google Insight, searches relating to Phillip’s condition were the fastest rising in the last 30 days. the only search criteria that topped his condition in the last 90 days concerned his hometown. Going back to the season as a whole, his condition doesn’t register in the top 10 searches. So, this indicates as the season went on, Phillip’s condition became a focus of the public.

OffLeash

I don’t know how reliable this is but according to US Magazine:

“He’s been hiding the full extent of his problems from the public, but
he was actually born with only one functioning kidney,” explains one
show insider to Us Weekly.

http://twitter.com/tkfabeck Tess Fabeck

Of all the media appearances, I’m more disappointed he’s missing the trip to Disney honestly. Given all the gifs and photos of P2’s silly faces this season, I expected some gold with Disney characters. There’s an off day on the tour before Orlando, so maybe he could go then.

DavieP

Jess also singing NationalAnthem at DC MemorialDay bash on PBS

http://twitter.com/jepriy Jepoy Ramos

when’s the disney show? I’m sure they’ll resched. They are not paying him 200K for nothing.

http://twitter.com/DiChristine anodyne

Philip Phillips condition was mentioned on EVERY show I saw. Philip “drank the koolaid” & went along! Girlfriend was “hidden” & now he says in an article something about voting for the “cute guy” & not “the music”. Underneath the drawl is a highly ambitious man.
In The Daily Beast slideshow Crystal Bowersox said Nigel told her after her hospitalized diabetic ep she was off the show & she had to beg to stay on. So how come Philip Phillips multiple eps were tolerated above & beyond? Chosen One, anyone? Admittedly Nigel tolerated Casey Abrams IBS so what’s the difference?

clearone

His gf wasn’t hidden. She was in the front row for most of his performances. Her picture was taken and tweeted with many. Ryan mentioned her on the show a few weeks ago so she wasn’t hidden.

I have no doubt that Phillip is ambitious. If he weren’t so he wouldn’t have tolerated this pain for past few weeks and tossed in the towel. You get nowhere in the music business without ambition and luck.

OffLeash

I remember many comments at the time saying the Phillip bussing had started because they were showing his gf.

Anonymous

It’s too bad he’s missing the big Today show concert they do outside. That’s always a big event. We saw Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee at the Today show after their season and I’ve never seen so many people in my life.

Listening

Maybe Nigel learned from the Crystal Bowersox situation and that’s why he didn’t try to kick Casey and Phillip off the show. Ummm wait a second how do we know Nigel didn’t try to kick them off as well maybe they just haven’t talked about it like Crystal has. Also they did make exceptions for Crystal as well if i’m not mistaken didn’t they switch the boys and the girls performance schedule just for her, that had never happened before. Oh and she was the only one allowed to sing an original song during live shows. That remarkable exception I definitely recall was done just for Crystal. So let’s not act like Crystal was treated like the unwanted step child during Idol. They Loved her during the show.

Sparkles

I hope everything goes well & he has a speedy recovery. If he misses
any shows on the tour they better have one of those holograms or there will be a
lot of tears from the young girls. And from some of the “older” girls as well. Not
to mention the tears from at least one sparkly clown. So please, get well soon Phillip.

http://twitter.com/Loretta31 Loretta

Get better soon Philip!

Tess

Idol has had contestants, before, that have had issues and the online community always gets all abuzz and fans swear that these, often times very scary, medical issues are why someone won or lost. Now, I’m totally immersed in the bubble and I can easily see that none of this has led to a “sympathy” vote for the contestant. Don’t think Archie’s damaged vocal chord, or Cook’s arrhythmia attack that sent him to the hospital or his concerns about his brother, or Elliott’s or Crystal’s diabetes, or Casey’s digestive concerns, or someone’s ongoing bouts with the flu, or blindness, or recent loss of wife or parents or having no voice helped anyone move forward in the competition. Results haven’t always proven that to be true.

And as far as all of this being brought up week after week I think I would be pretty hardpressed to find factually evidence of that….especially when each Idol show isn’t available to watch. And the reach of TMZ or other Idol-centric blogs doesn’t reach far beyond the bubble anyhow.

Anonymous

Poor kid. He is gonna come back to life after that surgery! Seriously kidney stones are soooo painful. I’m suprised he didn’t just throw in the towel during his idol stint.

http://twitter.com/CanadianLady2 CanadianLady

Yeah, now that you mention it, Jimmy did say something several times. But I never felt they were trying to use it to get more viewers. Maybe the last TMZ article after his home visit, but that is looking kind of accurate now. I do agree there’s been a lot more about it in the last few weeks for sure.

lambkingal

The kids get med insurance while they’re employed by Idol.

http://twitter.com/KariannHart Kariann Hart

Tess, I am positive Phillip will be making that Disney World appearance. He will be getting $200,000 – money he could probably use. The timing will be delayed, but you may be right about the off day appearance.

I wish Phillip the very best with his surgery with complete healing and recovery!

http://twitter.com/eilonwya10 Eilonwy

And the reach of TMZ or other Idol-centric blogs doesn’t reach far beyond the bubble anyhow.

TMZ is not an Idol-centric blog. It’s a celebrity gossip site.

According to Alexa, it’s the 111th most traffic-heavy site in the U.S., compared to #900 for americanidol.com. Top stories on TMZ right now involve Arianny Celeste (UFC), “Clint Eastwood’s daughter,” X Factor cast scolding TMZ, Johnny Lee Miller, Sophie Monk, Amber Portwood, Sean Kingston, P2, Jenna Jameson, Ray J, Lana Wood, Taylor Hicks, and Flavor Flav. That’s only 2 Idol articles out of 13 front-page items, at a time of year when Idol coverage might be expected to be heavy.

Somehow, I now have the urge to take another shower.

Karen C

I don’t think Nigel was producer of AI during seasons 8-9, so he wouldn’t have been producer when Crystal was on.

Also, the difference with Crystal was that she almost missed a performance show, but Phillip didn’t.

Tess

oops…forgot a comma: and the reach of TMZ, or “Idol-Centric blogs” doesn’t

Thanks for catching my grammar lapse.

fuzzywuzzy

“Oh and she was the only one allowed to sing an original song during live
shows. That remarkable exception I definitely recall was done just for
Crystal. So let’s not act like Crystal was treated like the unwanted
step child during Idol. They Loved her during the show.”

What song was that (I assume that you mean her own original song)? I know that she was shown singing part of “Holy Toledo” on the hometown visit video of the top 3, but I don’t recall her singing one of her own songs live.

fuzzywuzzy

Thanks for that information. TMZ is ranked #2 of all “entertainment” sites:

Nigel had nothing to do with Idol S8/S9. It would have been Ken Warwick, who I think is the one who is the leader of the pro-guy for the ratings camp. I could see getting rid of Crystal being Ken’s idea, giving him a more desirable northern guy vs southern guy match-up with Lee/Casey.

http://twitter.com/BazzleFjsm Bazzle

Phillip Phillips tip my hat off to you my friend. What a trooper. His humble nature, perseverance and love for the music I think makes him a really good role model for kids who aspire to become musicians. You can say not everyone votes, or it was the fangirls who got him there… but dont undermine this WGWG, he has never expected anything or whined about his situation.

Anonymous

I agree the TMZ is not idol-centric the Kris non-story they published spread like wildfire on the internet in the US and some abroad. It was picked up by some more legitimate media. Lately many of their stories make it into the mainstream news cycles.

Anonymous

I did not have a horse in the AI – 11 race so who won was not really of concern to me. But, having been an RN and treating guys with kidney stones, I thought it was unfreakin believable that P2 made it through Idol with the kind of pain he likely endured. He looked pretty bad (for being a cute guy) too. It was easy to see he was not feeling well. I don’t think that the show emphasized his kidney condition and used it one bit. Think of a woman in the throes of a really long and agonizing labor with no pain meds and you get an idea of the kind of pain he was enduring for 7 weeks. The fact that it was not brought up more often is what surprises me. And, the fact that it is a congenital condition that he has already endured 9 surgeries for – geesh – this kid is tough. I bet he did not use the amount of pain med he needed so he could still stand straight and perform. Yikes – kidney stones are the absolute worst.

Anonymous

I hope he has a speedy recovery.

fuzzywuzzy

It wasn’t the omission of a comma, but the “other” in your original post that was incorrect:

And the reach of TMZ or other Idol-centric blogs doesn’t reach far beyond the bubble anyhow.

Removing the “other” in that phrase is what corrects the sentence, rather than a “grammar lapse”.

Anonymous

“He’s been hiding the full extent of his problems from the public, but
he was actually born with only one functioning kidney,” explains one
show insider to Us Weekly.

His health issues are probably related to Phillip being born a premie–a fact that was highlighted during one of his early video packages on the show.

Anonymous

Jepoy: I am thinking Idol is paying for the surgery and for any of his needs while recovering from surgery. I am sure the show is covering all medical costs and more.

Kirsten

I am sure the show is covering all medical costs and more

I’m not.

When Alex Wong severely injured himself rehearsing for Idol’s sister show SYTYCD, he had to pay his own medical expenses. It may be that they cover costs while you are on the show because they are making money off of you, but once Alex was eliminated (he tore his Achilles tendon so he would not be able to dance for months), he had no coverage.

One ray of sunshine are the Ford videos. Because that constitutes acting, the actor unions got involved. As a result, the Idols are the rare talent show contestants that actually get paid for appearing on the show and they get health insurance from the union. So, he is probably covered there.

Karen C

Phillip did go much further in the competition, though, maybe the insurance goes to the finalists because they are going on the tour, maybe by X1X. And I would think once he’s signed he would be insured by the record company. Maybe that’s one of the reasons he wanted to continue.

http://twitter.com/twiterreader Glenda

Phillip’s surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, May 29 – that’s what i just read !! so hoping he’s gonna feel lots better soon :) gotta get him better so he doesn’t miss any of the tour stops…God bless you Phillip & get well soon !! the stones are way too large to pass, so he has to have the surgery ASAP….

getaway1

Phillip has said that he had great drs and support around him. To be honest, I can understand why he wanted to continue. He was never in the bottom; and he held on to that since top 7. And with the modifications of the runner up contract, that has put a different spin on things.

So fortunately, he did end up winning so he gets to do an album. He got a great winning song which are lot of people are predicting will be big and his songs have done really well on ITunes.

Now he can get better and get ready for the tour.

Anonymous

Hannah Blackwell, Phil’s girlfriend, tweeted last night that his surgery is NOT today.